Not outright, of course. No, if I looked their direction, there was a rush to glance away, but I caught those looks all the same. Some were pity, some anger, some suspicion, but all unwelcome.
They blamed me for what happened, even if no one knew what had happened or why.
Well, no one but me, Kaidan and Reject Squad. We had the pieces needed to work out the truth, even if none of us dared utter it.
“That was quite the show,” Mr. Yorn said as he pulled on his blue nitrile gloves. I hated the feeling against my skin, but it was probably still better than feeling his actual touch. “I have never heard of such a thing happening. It is a pity that monsters die so quickly after the portals close, because I would have liked to study that phenomenon a while.”
I shuddered at his use of the wordstudy. I pictured the monster chained up, and me shoved into that same room. The chain would let it come close, snap its teeth, but never quite reach me.
I found it a blessing that they died and disintegrated long before that could happen.
“You still don’t wish to tell me why you’re different?”
“Why do you think I have any idea? Espers don’t know why they’re born an esper, or why they become whatever classification they do. Guides don’t know why they present as a guide. Why would I have any idea what made me the way I am?” Even as I said that, I wondered if I sold the story at all.
What did it matter if I didn’t?
Mr. Yorn kept the conversation going as though we were friends. “Do you really think I don’t know you’re lying to me? It is in the fear in your eyes. No one has fear like that unless they have something to hide, and nothing you have to hide could be so vital or dangerous as how you are what you are.”
I pressed my lips together, not wanting to utter a word about it. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, I’d blurt out something I shouldn’t. Nothing I told Mr. Yorn would help me in the slightest—it was better to not say a thing.
If he was bothered by that, he didn’t show it, speaking with the same level tone he had the whole time. “Do you know why I enjoy the work I do so much? Because what subjects have to say matters little. If I can figure out what you are, the rest will come. Besides, once you are fully in my grasp, you will tell me everything. Like what your connection with The Pitt is, like why you can guide with the speed and ability you can, why your body reacts to corruption so differently. They are all questions, but they will get their answers in time. For now, lie back.”
“What are you going to do?”
He didn’t answer, only lifting an eyebrow as though to remind me of the power imbalance between us.
I inched myself further onto the exam table and twisted, resting fully backward. The table wasn’t truly long enough, so my feet hung off the end. He could have extended the bottom shelf to give me room, but he didn’t.
Probably another show of power.
He pressed about on my stomach through the gown, not bothering to ask if it hurt. No doubt my flinching gave him the answer. He tilted my head back and felt my throat, frowning for a moment. “The lymph nodes in your neck are slightly swollen, but no other signs of infection. Perhaps that is a reaction to the event today?” He spoke to himself, not me, so I let him go on.
The less I spoke, the more he talked to himself, muttering things that meant little to me. Still, I listened, hoping to glean something from his ramblings that might prove useful.
Mostly, they were medical observations, spoken as though it was about something inanimate rather than a person. He mentioned temperature, stress reactions, nothing of note.
Finally, he had me sit up again and brought out a round device that reminded me of an unadorned tiara.
“What does that do?”
Another sharp look said I wasn’t supposed to ask that, but a sigh suggested he’d grown bored of correcting me for it. “This will study brain waves. It will tell me what goes on in that vapid little head of yours.”
“So you’ll be able to read my mind?”
“Nothing so clumsy or specific. Instead, I can read the reactions to different thoughts and stimuli. We don’t have much time today, so I will do a quick session before you can return to your squad. Since we did not have to do anything invasive, there will be no reason for you not to return immediately.” He fitted the circle on my head before he had even finished speaking, a tingling sensation starting the moment he turned it on.
It felt similar to a mentalist, telling me that the technology had likely started there. It might not be as powerful, but any civilian could use it, making it more accessible.
Of course, it also hurt more, reminding me of a clumsy C-Rank trying to pry their way into my head rather than the finesse of Shear. Talk about using a hammer to get a fly.
“Now, can you tell me what happened today?” At my look, he added, “I am not asking for secrets. Just respond with what you recall.”
Without another option, I acquiesced. “I was doing a patrol with my squad when a tear opened. It wasn’t a full portal, but monsters came through it. I ran, headed for my trailer, but the monsters kept cutting off my path.”
“And after the espers were all taken down?” His words reminded me of that moment, when I’d witnessed exactly how powerful my enemy really was.
“The monsters surrounded me.”
